A/N: High School teacher AU. In this, Bucky still has both arms.

At Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York, there are two teachers who are the best of friends. They are the American history teacher, Bucky Barnes, and the American literature teacher, Sam Wilson. They hang out with each other all the time, both in school and out of school. The two of them even plan out their lesson plans together, so whatever time period Bucky is teaching is the time period that Sam will work with.

"What unit are coming up on? I completely forgot." Sam asked Bucky.

"1940's...world war 2." Bucky replied.

"Ah, okay. So that means I gotta go to the library and check out like...thirty copies of Animal Farm. And then I have to print out exerts from The Glass Menagerie and Nineteen Eighty-Four. And as for For Whom The Bell Tolls, that's in the textbook along with some quiz questions, so that's covered." Sam said writing down some reminders so he wouldn't forget.

They were at Bucky's apartment eating dinner and grading schoolwork.

"Hey, Buck, I'm home. Oh, hi, Sam." Bucky's roommate and childhood friend, Steve said entering the apartment.

"Hey, Stevie, the spaghetti's on the stove. And how was football practice with that new assistant coach?" Bucky said not looking up from a quiz he was grading.

"Uhg, I hate that Walker guy, he's a god d*mn son of a b**ch." Steve grumbled scooping some spaghetti onto a plate.

"Ooooooh boy! This dude must be annoying if it made golden-boy Mr. Art teacher swear." Sam chuckled.

"Don't even get me started." Steve sighed sitting at the table with his friends.

Sam and Bucky put away their papers so that Steve wouldn't get spaghetti sauce all over their students' work.

"Come on, pal, spill the tea. My brain needs a break from all this grading." Bucky said as his cat, Alpine, jumped into his lap and placed his front paws and chin on the table.

"Well, first of all, he's very rude. He's always contradicting me, and he's way too hard on the kids. And...I think I saw him making eyes at the cheerleaders." Steve told his friends.

"Are you serious? Most of those girls are like...16." Sam said disgusted.

"That's sick." Bucky agreed.

"I swear to god if Walker even thinks about touching one of those girls, I'm gonna beat him with a baseball bat." Steve said clenching his fist.

"Use the old ones, the school just got us new ones." Bucky chuckled, patting his friend's shoulder.

Him and Sam both coach the school's baseball team. Steve takes a calming breath and unclenches his fist, then continues eating.

"So, anything new with you two?" Steve asked, nudging Bucky's leg with his foot.

"No, not really." Bucky replied kicking Steve's leg.

"I have this hot new neighbor I'm thinking of asking out." Sam said.

"Oh, really?" Steve replied.

He glances over at Bucky and sees him staring down at his lap, petting his cat and biting on his bottom lip.

"Mhm. Well, I'm gonna head home, see you guys tomorrow." Sam said putting his school stuff into his bag and getting up from the table.

"See ya, Sam." Steve said as Sam walked to the door.

"Bye." Bucky mumbled as Sam left.

Once the door was closed, Steve turns to his best friend.

"Oh my god, you still haven't told Sam you like him!?" Steve asked, exasperated.

"Nope. And I'm not going to." Bucky said, frowning.

"Why not?" Steve asked him.

"Because I don't want it to ruin our friendship. Besides, he'll just reject me." Bucky answered.

"Why do you think that?" Steve asked.

"Oh come on, Stevie, don't act so dumb. You know very well why I'll always be rejected. I am undesirable...nobody will ever want me in that way. So just accept it...I have." Bucky replied bitterly.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go grade the rest of my papers in my room." he added, grabbing his stuff and heading to his room, with Alpine at his heels.

After Bucky slams his door shut, Steve sighs and puts his head in his hands.

"Oh, Buck, you gotta stop putting yourself down like that. Any guy or gal would be lucky to have you as a boyfriend." Steve said quietly.

For the past two months, Bucky has had a crush on Sam, but has been too afraid to confess his feelings. The only ones who knows about Bucky's crush on Sam is Steve, Peggy, who is the coach for the girls' soccer team, and one of Bucky's students. Only because the student accidentally overhead Bucky mumbling to himself about his crush on Sam.

"What am I gonna do? Those two would be so perfect together." Steve thought to himself, resting his chin on his fist.

In his room, Bucky finishes grading papers while Alpine curls up on the pillow next to him. It was a bit hard for him to concentrate, though...he couldn't stop thinking about Sam asking out his beautiful new neighbor. He knew she would say yes, who in their right mind would reject Sam? To Bucky, he was absolute perfection and was the most beautiful man in the world. Then the thought of them together made his chest hurt and his eyes sting with unshed tears. So, he shakes his head, then tries to stay focused on the work in front of him. Even if Bucky had the courage to confess...it would be pointless...Sam already likes somebody else.